


Meddling In Time

by gh0st1nn1t



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dave Lives (Umbrella Academy), Five Brings Dave Back From The Dead, Five Goes Back In Time Again, Five Hargreeves Is Amazing, Fix It Fic, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, M/M, Sort Of, The Hargreeves Try To Be A Family, Theyre all good siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0st1nn1t/pseuds/gh0st1nn1t
Summary: On the anniversary of Dave Katz death, Klaus was torn apart. His siblings saw it, even if they didn't know why he was sad, they had noticed him moping around the house, or hiding in his room all day.Then Five sits down with Klaus and he opens up about Vietnam and an idea sparks in Fives head.
Relationships: Dave Katz - Relationship, Dave/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 6
Kudos: 176





	1. i

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus gets miserable on the anniversary of Dave's death, and Five, who noticed, decides to come to chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi season 2 happened in this except they actually stopped the apocalypse and klaus never went to the diner and never got punched by dave also grace and ben are alive bc i love them shut up okay bye :)

The anniversary of Dave’s death had always been a tough day for Klaus to handle, either hiding in his room all day or sulking around the house. On more than one occasion his siblings had caught him attempting to sneak out and have a relapse of some kind. They noticed it came on the same day every year, February 21st. Well, it had only been the second time on that day that he had been acting out on, but they had noticed a pattern. They had no clue why that date seemed so significant to their brother, but they knew he was a danger to himself and everyone else on that day, so they were careful to lock all exits, and check on Klaus.

Klaus wasn't stupid, contrary to popular belief. He knew what they were doing, he knew they meant well, he knew they were just trying to help, but if one more of them walked in asking how he was doing, he swore he would dropkick them. He just wanted to mourn alone, in silence, and his siblings' constant presence the exact opposite of what he wished for. 

He laid in the empty bath, still fully clothed. The shower half-way across the room was on, making his siblings believe he was showering, so they would leave him alone. He held a picture of Dave in his hands, smiling sadly when his eyes fell on their hands, mere inches apart. It was the same one that was in the veterans bar, but the others had been cropped out. The day was still fresh in his mind, despite it being long ago. Well, it was exactly five years ago, but that was irrelevant.

Dave's blond curls wouldn't stay still, and he had sighed in relief when he was informed that they were to wear their helmets in the photo. His skin was sunkissed from the burning jungle sun. Once he saw Klaus wouldn't be wearing a shirt for the picture, he had laughed, messing up Klaus' hair with a beaming grin. Klaus had scrunched up his nose, pretending to shoot Dave with a mocking 'pew pew' sound effect, which made Dave burst into laughter. They had been so happy that day, a mere week before Dave's death.

At the thought of it, Klaus looked down at his hands, his vision flashing between his blood-soaked hands and his clean hands grasping the photograph. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, before opening them and sighing in relief when he saw the blood was just a hallucination. Most normal people would panic at hallucinating, but for Klaus, who became a drug addict at 13 and an alcoholic at 14, hallucinations were normal. Except he had been sober for months, so the hallucination was severely out of place. 

He swore that if he focused he could still hear the helicopters flying low above him, and the landmines going off, and the gunshots piercing the air, and the wails of the ghosts of the fallen soldiers. He shook his head violently, trying to block out the noises. The sound of the raging war outside was accompanied by Klaus' own screams for Dave, begging him to stay awake while Klaus screamed and pleaded for a medic.

A knock on the door had pulled him out of his thoughts, and, despite what Klaus thought earlier, he was thankful for a distraction. He began sitting up, ready to greet whoever it was. He knew he was a hypocrite, wanting to be left alone, then sulking when he was. But he didn’t care.

"Klaus, honey? Dinner's almost ready," Grace called out through the door, and Klaus sunk back down, sighing. No distraction then. Ben was under the impression Klaus was showering so he was waiting in Klaus' room.

He pulled his knees to his chest, practically curling into a ball in the bathtub, burying his face in his knees as he sobbed. Klaus didn't want the others to know, he didn't want to bring it up when it had first happened because the world was ending and that was more important, but he'd put it off for so long, that he thought if he told them know, they would wave him off, telling him not to be upset because it was so long ago.

He knew it was an irrational thought, because they let Diego grieve over Detective Eudora Patch, but Klaus struggled to have any rational thoughts at any time. He sighed and stood up, switching off the shower and going back into his room, hiding the picture under a book on his desk. 

\- - - - -

It was about midnight when a knock rang out, and Klaus' shoulders slumped. He wasn't going to sleep, or doing anything important, he was just leaning against a wall, staring absently at the door, lost in thought. Well, less 'thought' and more 'flashbacks of being in the middle of a warzone'. Still, he had been focusing, and suddenly someone decided that midnight was a good time to chat? 

"Come in!" He called out, making sure his eyeliner wasn't smudged in the mirror on his desk, not wanting to worry whoever it was. He knew they were aware he was moping, but he didn’t want to let them know he had been crying.

The door creaked open, and Five entered, an apologetic look on his face, and a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. "Hey, Klaus." Without invitation, he went and sat on the chair beside Klaus' bed, clearly expecting a long chat, or something in that genre. Klaus was not in the mood for it, at all.

He forced a laugh as his eyes fell on the cup. "Really, Five? Coffee this late? Our little psycho," he grinned.

Five saw through his facade instantly. "Klaus, where did you go when you used Hazel and Cha-Cha's briefcase?" 

A chill ran down Klaus' spine. "Wait a tick, why are you so interested now?" He remembered when Five had asked, and Klaus had brushed him off, and Five gave up instantly, walking away with a scoff and muttered curses.

"I think it has something to do with why you're all depressed on this specific day."

Klaus sprang straight into lying. "Withdrawal symptoms, little brother, withdrawal symptoms. I don't expect you to understand, but my skin is on _fire_!"

"You used that same lie last year," Five narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but without any traces of anger, "If you're going to lie, don't use the same one twice. That's the first rule. Tell the truth," he insisted, sipping from his cup as if he didn't just call out Klaus' bullshit and leave him stunned. "Where were you? Or, a better question might be when were you?"

"1967."

Five hummed, glad that they were making progress, albeit slow. "Where?"

"Vietnam," Klaus mumbled, barely loud enough for Five to hear.

"Vietnamese war, hmm," Five took another sip as he contemplated, "that explains a lot. The jumping at loud noises, the dog tags, the army jacket, the sudden Vietnamese cooking."

Klaus stayed silent, picking at his nails. "Was there a reason for this, or did you just want to dig up old shit that I'm already over?" Five stayed quiet. "Go on, speak, call me out on my bullshit, call me a liar, whatever. Yada yada yada," Klaus waved his hand in feigned annoyance. It was really fear of Five finding out what had happened.

"You're clearly not over it. You were in an active warzone for almost a year, and you're clearly still affected by something that happened then, on this day. So what happened?"

"I-'' Klaus broke off, taking a deep breath before continuing, "I met someone there, Dave Katz. He was another soldier, signed up on the day Kennedy got assassinated. 9 months, we were together. Like, together together. Then, two weeks before we were going to run away, he got shot, in the chest. Couldn't save him, so I ran and grabbed the briefcase."

Five was quiet. To be fair, he didn't know what it was like to be in the middle of a war. The closest he got was being stuck in an abandoned warzone for 48 years. But that was an abandoned warzone, and he knew the difference was night and day. "I'm sorry, Klaus, I didn't know." 

"Not your fault," Klaus shrugged helplessly, "I didn't tell anyone. I'm over it, it's too late anyway, nothing I can do can help him so why get hung up about it, right?" Despite his careless words, tears were forming in his eyes. He quickly shook his head to get rid of them.

Then an idea sparked in Five's head.

“Weird question, but once he got shot, what did you do?”

Klaus froze. “I just sort of cried for a minute and then turned around and ran away to grab the briefcase,” he confessed quietly.

Five nodded, thinking to himself. “And you didn’t turn back? At all?”

Klaus shook his head, confused by the sudden interrogation.

"Where exactly did he die?"

"A Shau Valley."

"Do you have a picture?"

Klaus gestured towards his desk, the immense exhaustion distracting him from the quickfire, odd questions. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? I’m just tired,” he yawned.

"Okay, I understand. Just don't hide it from us anymore, okay?" Klaus just nodded absentmindedly, and Five popped out of the room, leaving his empty coffee cup on Klaus' desk, which was suddenly lacking the picture of him and Dave.

Five didn’t want to tell Klaus what the plan was, lest it backfire, but, judging by his calculations, it should work.


	2. ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five goes back in time simply to save Dave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw??  
> /mentions of injuries (VERY brief, except forthe part with daves death?)  
> /gunshot wound  
> /blood
> 
> also grace is alive shut up

Five had never been in an active warzone before, which is why when he dropped in the hills of A Shau Valley, he hadn’t been expecting anything he saw. Or heard.

There were men from barely 18 to what seemed to be 60 all fighting in the hills. Bodies were sprawled everywhere, and he saw the medics rushing around in a feeble attempt to help. Gunshots echoed through the air, along with screams and explosions from landmines.

There were mere boys with bullet wounds on the floor. There were men with their legs blown off from the mines. There were scattered bullets and trails of blood and explosions and it was all so much that Five almost forgot what he was there for. The sky was dark, the only illumination being the gunfire and occasional triggered mine. Five gulped, wondering how Klaus had stayed ten whole months in this place and still seemed sane, or as sane as Klaus could be.

Immediately, someone yelled at him, “What the hell are you doin’ here, kid?” The soldier demanded as he ducked behind the sandbags. He was frantically reloading his gun with trembling hands, his flimsy hat discarded beside him, a bullet hole piercing the fabric.

“Looking for my brother, Klaus, have you seen him?” Five asked, ducking slightly, the bullets barely missing him. He could’ve sworn one was inches away from sticking itself straight in his forehead. He hadn’t expected his mission to be dangerous, but he knew it was important, so he kept going. 

“You mean Hargreeves? He’s down there!” The soldier pointed further down the hills, and Five used one of his space jumps to get there instantly, setting off in a run, not having time to question how the guy knew his brother. If he got there late, he knew he would be screwed, and the plan would go to shit. He knew he couldn’t let Klaus see him, so he made sure to duck.

Just as he caught sight of Klaus, he noticed the blond soldier next to him, and he recognised him from the picture.

“Christ on a cracker, that was a close one, huh, Dave?” His brother's voice was barely audible beneath the tense sounds of war, so Five crept closer, just out of vision, finding none other than Klaus hidden behind a row of sandbags, gun perched on top of it. The lack of answer made Klaus look away from the battlefield and to the man beside him, who had gone eerily still. “Dave?”

Five felt chills run down his spine as he heard the desperate screams of Klaus as he rolled Dave over, revealing the bullet wound in his chest. The sudden emotion made pity swirl inside of Five, never having seen his brother express more emotion than the occasional tear. “MEDIC! MEDIC!”

He watched as Klaus fumbled over the blood pouring from Dave, sobbing and pleading for Dave to stay awake. “Hey, Dave, look at me, look at me, okay? Oh, damn it,” Klaus returned to sitting up straight, screaming, “MEDIC!"

Klaus pressed a hand against the wound, attempting to stem the blood flow as he screamed and wailed and sobbed over Dave's body, soaking himself in blood. His heart shattered in his chest, and the pieces seemed to tear him up inside as he begged for help. Tears flooded down his cheeks dripping down onto the wounded man beneath him.

Five watched as the medics hustled around the people who weren’t Dave, and he saw the realisation in Klaus’ eyes.

“Ok, look at me. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. It’s okay,” Klaus collapsed onto Dave’s chest, sobbing over his barely-alive body. “Please, please...please. Stay with me, Dave, Stay with me!”

Five watched as Dave grew still, and he had to fight off tears. He’d never seen his brother so distraught. He felt a tug in his chest as he saw the blood soaking his brother.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Klaus wailed, before kissing Dave’s forehead and springing onto his feet, sprinting back towards where they set up camp.

Five waited for Klaus to be fully out of vision before he space-jumped right beside Dave, seeing the man flicker back into consciousness. He watched Klaus as he ran, seeing barely-corporeal ghosts of his fellow soldiers forming a barricade for Klaus, taking the bullets for him as he sprinted back to camp.

From where he was knelt, he noticed the bullet wound had barely missed his heart, but would still be fatal if left another minute. The blood trickled from his mouth, pooling around him.

Five took a deep breath and grabbed Dave’s arm, jumping back through time and straight into the Umbrella Academy’s mansion, directly in the infirmary in the correct year. 

Grace had just been walking past the door when she turned, noticing Five struggling to hold up an unconscious man dressed in war gear. She had been rewired by Luther and Diego, and she was given free roam, except she liked staying inside when it got too hot, which was incredibly lucky for Five, because her programming made her able to administer first aid that would be impossible in most situations.

She rushed over, laying the stranger onto the bed without hesitation, already pulling on a white apron over her pale grey blouse and her puffy blue skirt.

“Five, dear, who is this?” Grace asked politely as she rushed to gather medical supplies, along with scissors. Her heels clicked against the floor as she hurried about, somehow keeping her calm the entire time, and Five had to remind himself that she was a robot. 

“Dave, one of Klaus’ friends,” Five supplied her, panting slightly. Two jumps in time in a very small span of minutes along with the fact that he went back 52 years had tired him out. “Will he make it?”

Five hoped so, because he just wasted his energy on trying to save him just because he saw how distraught Klaus was. There were so many people he would be willing to waste his energy on and save, including Sissy and Harlan, Eudora Patch, and many others, but he knew Dave was one of the few who was able to be saved. He was either dead or brought into 2019, and Five knew that, since Dave was almost dead, the rules that applied to Sissy and Harlan didn’t apply to him.

Grace looked down at the unconscious man as she cut open the front of his shirt, revealing the grouseome bullet wound. “Hopefully, it’s too early to tell.”

Five nodded, walking back out of the infirmary to give Grace some space to work, ready to go and shower to wash the blood off of him.


	3. iii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five talks to Klaus, and Dave wakes up.

Five knocked on Klaus' door, in fresh clothes with all traces of blood washed off of him. Washing all of the blood off had taken an hour and a half. The last thing he wanted to do was freak out Klaus, and soaked in the blood of his (dead? alive?) lover would not help.

He'd stopped by the infirmary on the way up, getting confirmation from Grace that she'd finished the surgery (seriously? Five questioned internally. He knew she was a robot, but goddamn that was quick) so he'd decided to finally tell Klaus.

The wood was rough against his knuckles, and nervousness filled him inside.

"Come in!" Klaus called out, laying upside-down on his bed, head on the floor, feet against the wall. "Five, what was the deal with those questions yesterday?" He asked. After sleeping finally, he'd woken up questioning why Five was so demanding that his specific, intrusive questions needed answering.

"Okay, don't freak out-"

Klaus interrupted by rolling off of the bed, falling in a pile on the floor before sitting upright, rubbing the side of his head as it throbbed, "What did you do?"

"I went back in time and got Dave. Once you turned away, I grabbed him and got him back here. Mom's downstairs with him right now," Five said bluntly, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, as if the news he had sprung on Klaus was nothing more than casual.

Klaus spluttered over his words before finally choking out- "Dave's here? And alive?" Tears burned his eyes, and he had to fight a smile coming onto his face. Usually, Klaus hid most of his intense emotions, but even Five could see the pure joy that was practically oozing out of him. A few stray tears rolled down his cheeks as he beamed. 

Five nodded. "In the infirmary. Mom said he should make it, shes just finished the surgery a few minutes ago."

Klaus sprang up, hugging Five tightly, ignoring the protests he got in response, and began springing down the stairs, his socks being strangely loud against the wooden steps. Five watched him go with traces of a smile.

As soon as Klaus reached the infirmary, he stopped dead in his tracks, seeing Grace walking past him with a blood-soaked apron. "Mom?"

She looked surprised to see him, yet she still gave him a proud smile as she placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Your friend is alive, dear. He should wake up soon, and you can see him, but he needs to keep that IV in, and he must rest, the poor boy is sleep deprived, okay?"

Klaus hugged her, and he knew it was the strongest hug he'd ever given, yet Grace seemed please to return in, petting the back of his head in a loving gesture. "Thanks, Mom," he grinned, and he felt like he was floating as the news settled in.

_Dave was alive. He was alive. He wasn't dead, no, no, he was living and breathing and sleeping and his heart was beating and he was okay and Klaus finally felt like he could breathe as happinesshappinesshappiness took over._

He dashed into the infirmary, eyes falling onto Dave immediately. 

His tanned skin was pale, too pale, _toopaletoopaletoopaletoopale_ -

Klaus took a deep breath, trying to steady his thoughts. No, Dave was alive, he reassured himself as his vision settled onto the heart monitor beside him, the steady beeps giving him an overwhelming amount of relief.

Dave was no longer sun-kissed, but there were still traces of his tan coming through. His body seemed hollow and sunken. Usually, Klaus admired his strong cheekbones and kind face, but it looked more like his cheeks had caved in. Soft blond curls fell into his face, almost masking how close to death he looked. His army vest had been removed along with his shirt and ill-fitting trousers, instead replaced by loose white pajamas that barely hid the mountain of bandages beneath them. Klaus' eyes fell onto his face, and he realised how wrong it looked to not see Dave's grin and the glint in his sea blue eyes and his eyebags were too dark and too dark and _toodarktoodarktoo_ -

"No," He muttered underneath his breath, finally stepping towards Dave, taking a seat beside the bed. He cautiously took Dave's hand in his, careful to grab the one without the tight thing on his finger along with the needle in the back of his hand. He lowered his forehead to the back of Dave's hand, and he wept. He knew he must have been there for hours.

He'd lived so long without Dave, yet he relied on him more than the drugs, then Dave was torn away by a bullet and he had to live with it for ive years (one in current time, and then like 4 years in the past too) and he felt lost, but now Dave was back.

He was back,

He was alive,

He was breathing,

and he was looking at Klaus with a confused expression.


	4. iv

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yes im aware the hospital bed is tiny but pretend its a double bed or smth kay thanks, also?? i actually got to the last chapter??? im so proud of me :')

"Klaus?"

His head shot up, meeting Dave's confused eyes with a watery smile. Klaus practically tackled him in a hug, tears soaking his shoulder. "Oh my god, I love you, don't do that to me again," he muttered into his shoulder, unable to stop his grin. 

Dave, not realising where they were, pushed Klaus away gently, "No, Klaus, we can't, remember?" His eyes were apologetic, and he wanted nothing more than to hug Klaus back, but they'd almost been caught once before, and he wasn't risking it again. 

"No, no, we can, we can, baby, it's allowed now, it's normalised now," Klaus reassured him, and then hugged him again, careful relief flooding his body once Dave hugged back gently. 

"Where are we?" He asked, eyes scanning the room, completely baffled. The room was so much nicer than the shitty medical tents Dave remembered, and definately better than the hospital rooms, so where were they? He looked down into Klaus' teary eyes with confusion. He hadn't been hurt that badly, surely? "What happened? When did you get long hair?" He questioned as he twirled a strand between his fingers.

"We're in 2019, Dave. You got shot," Klaus admitted carefully, tiptoeing around his words with caution. 

Dave practically bolted up. "How the hell-"

"It's a really long story," Klaus was hesitant to admit that Dave was technically supposed to be dead, but he had always been terrible lying to his lover.

"Well apparently I've been shot, so we have time," Dave placed his hand over Klaus' with a gentle smile.

"Okay, um, shit, this is going to be confusing. You know how I told you I was from 2019? I was telling the truth. All of those stories I told you, they were true. I stole a time-travelling briefcase and got stuck in 67 but then I got back to 2019, and the world was ending. So my brother, Five, the time travelling one I told you about, accidentally sent us back to the 60's to stop it, and we almost ended the world again, but then we got back and the apocalypse stopped so Five went and got you," Klaus hurried out, mumbling over some words, and strategically left out Dave's death.

Dave was silent, waiting for Klaus to finally meet his eyes before smiling softly, "I always believed you, y'know? But when did I get shot? And why don't I remember Five getting me?"

Klaus bit his lip, looking away once again. "You have to promise not to freak out, okay? You got shot in the chest, and you went still, so I thought you were dead; I got the briefcase and went home, knowing you'd died. But the other day Five went back in time, and the moment I walked away, he grabbed you and brought you back to this timeline. Mom did the surgery, and she said you should be fine now," he admitted quietly.

"I...died? How long has it been for you since I died?"

He stayed mute, attempting to work it out. "About five years," He said almost silently.

Dave had to hold back a gasp before hugging Klaus tightly, apologising repeatedly under his breath as he buried his face in Klaus' soft curls, hands clutching the fabric of the back of his shirt. "God; I'm so sorry, Klaus," he whispered.

Klaus pulled away, looking up into Dave's eyes, hands on his shoulders, "Why are you apologising? You're the one that died."

"And you had to live five years without me," He tilted Klaus' head up, before pulling him back into a quickl hug.

"It sucked," he huffed, before sitting upright, pulling off Dave's dog tags and placing them around Dave's neck. "You'll probably want these back."

Daves eyes lit up as he realised Klaus kept them. He kissed him quickly, still afraid of being caught, before smiling down at Klaus. "You're the best."

Klaus laughed softly, flicking his hair behind his shoulder dramatically, "I know," he paused, noticing the sickly look still on Dave's face, along with the dark eyebags, "You need sleep, Dave. I'll stay, I promise," he added, noticing the worried look on Dave's face. "I'll stay right here, but you need to sleep."

He seemed to be thinking about something, before shifting over, patting the bed next to him. "You said it allowed now, right?" he smiled at Klaus as he climbed in beside him, slipping under the spft blankets. "You look tired too," Dave remarked, cuddling closer to Klaus.

Klaus chuckled lightly, "Then we'll both sleep. Deal?"

"Deal."


End file.
